Currents in the Kitchen!!!

Currents in the Kitchen Lab :

How our experiment went was, first we took two wires that were connected to our voltmeter and connected them to various types of metal, in this case copper and zinc. Once we had our metals inserted into our fruits and vegetables we were able to see the amount of voltage it created. We used potatoes, limes, lemons, and an orange as our independent variables.

We then tested to see if they would light a simple light bulb, with several tries we were unsuccessful but were still able to find the fruit/vegetable with the strongest voltage; POTATOES!!!

Some observations and questions we as group discovered on the way were having to do mainly with creating the largest amount of voltage. We kept coming to the same question “Can we create more charge with more of that one vegetable?”. We took our potatoes and split the two in half, we then created a full circuit but ended up with the same charge as one potatoes. Our observation was that we couldn’t create a larger voltage by adding more of the independent variable.

In my prediction I explained how I thought the citric acid and juices may have an effect on the voltage… In the end we did find that lemons and limes were one of our highest and my explanation for that is it does receive help from the acid. The electrons travel through the zinc and copper and transfer from one another through the acids and juices in the lemon, lime and orange. It isn’t necessarily the acid, but the juices make a natural path for the electrons to flow through.

Lastly and observation I made was that it was best to use the lowest setting to get the most accurate measurement for voltage. We used 3V as our setting, so we could collect our results as close as possible, so it was easier to compare. Here are our results we discovered from the voltmeter:

#1. A potato has a charge of 0.2V on a scale of 3V :

#2. A full lemon has a charge of 0.155V on a scale of 3V :

#3. A full lime has a charge of 0.15V on a scale of 3V :

#4. Several Potatoes have a charge of 0.1V on a scale of 3V :

As our group we would’ve loved to take this experiment to the next level and try creating a fruit or vegetable powered light but due to the fact our fruit barely made 0.5V/3V I’m not sure we could light anything bigger than a flashlight! We hope to learn more about how electricity can help us innovate and advance our ways on creating power.